A Rolling StoneMissing Scene
by Leesa Perrie
Summary: Missing Scene to Part 1 of The Cousin Series: A talk about swimming.


**A Rolling Stone: Missing Scene**

**By Leesa Perrie**

"Hey, Rodney, I'm going swimming when Mom gets home, you want to come?" John asked as he breezed into the living room, where Rodney was engrossed in the recently discovered wonder that was Batman.

"No."

"Oh, come on, it'll be fun!"

"Go away, I'm trying to watch this."

John flopped onto the couch next to his younger cousin, nudging him with his shoulder as he did so, purposely.

"Quit that," Rodney said grumpily, shifting up the couch a little.

John merely shifted closer again and grinned, though refrained from nudging him this time, ignoring the glare his cousin sent his way. Had to work on Rodney's personal space issues, after all. Try and reduce it from that two foot radius that he was more comfortable with.

They sat in silence, watching the end of the episode, though John couldn't help make certain comments when Cat Woman appeared, which Rodney agreed with wholeheartedly.

"So," John said once Batman had finished, "You going to come swimming now?"

"Don't have any swim trunks."

"Oh, hadn't thought of that. I'll ask Mom if we can stop at a store on the way and get you some."

"No thanks."

"Aw, come on," he whined, putting on his puppy dog face.

"It might have escaped your notice, but I'm really not into sports," Rodney snapped, knowing full well that it hadn't escaped John's notice.

"You shoot hoops."

"That's different."

Yeah, John thought, remembering the first time they'd shot some hoops a month ago, back at Rodney's foster parents' house. He'd failed to get Rodney interested in any other sport, though his parents were thinking of enrolling the teenager into a gym and making sure he went at least once a week. Had to get some exercise somewhere and walking about town wasn't really enough. Of course, Rodney didn't know about this yet. His parents were still working out how to tell the somewhat exercise-phobic kid about their plans without him arguing too much, or sulking.

"Look, swimming is fun! Really, it is. The pool that I go to has a really cool slide as well. I'm sure you'd love it."

"No," Rodney said stubbornly, looking tense. John frowned. He'd quickly learned that when Rodney got stubborn and tense, it meant he was feeling embarrassed, usually about something related to whatever was being discussed.

Oh, he thought to himself, almost seeing the light bulb over his head.

"You can't swim, can you?" he asked, keeping his tone matter of fact.

"I can," Rodney said, raising his chin up haughtily. "Of course I can."

"It's okay, you know, if you can't."

"I told you…" Rodney trailed off and sighed, knowing that he sucked at lying, especially to his new family. "It doesn't matter, don't want to go swimming anyway," he ended sullenly.

"Ah, crap, there's nothing to be embarrassed about. Lots of kids don't learn to swim. Mom can book you some lessons and make sure you're in a group about your age, or with the adults."

"Not bothered."

"Right," John drew the word out, trying to figure out what to say, and then continued in a sarcastic tone. "So, if you end up in water and in trouble somehow, then it's okay that you'll drown when you could have swum to safety. Yeah, sure, no problem, that's just fine with me."

"I won't get into trouble if I stay away from water."

"You can't spend the rest of your life avoiding water! Besides, even the most serene looking rivers can be in danger of flash flooding if it rains enough. Even in the centre of towns or cities."

"I…the chances that I'll ever need to swim are remote…"

"So? You're going to take the risk, no matter how small it might seem right now, for what? Pride? Laziness? Or are you afraid?"

"I'm not afraid!" Rodney hotly denied.

"So why be stubborn? You never know when being able to swim might save your life."

"I…" his cousin scowled. "You're not going to let this drop, are you?"

"Nope, and nor will Mom and Dad when I tell them."

"That's not fair!"

"So?"

"Fine. I'll learn," he finally agreed, looking very unhappy about it, as well as nervous.

"It'll be fine, you'll see," John said encouragingly. "You might even enjoy it!"

"Humph," Rodney said. "I'm going to my room, to read. Have 'fun' swimming."

Rodney left the room, muttering under his breath unhappily. John didn't take it personally; he knew his cousin was just unsure of himself and afraid of failing.

Still, it'd be fun when Rodney and he could go swimming together, he thought it'd be cool to show him the water slide. But for now… he grinned. At least he'd get first dibs on any good looking girls there.

Oh yeah, life was good.

The End


End file.
